The Internet has kept an eye, an ear, and a pouty lip out since Lana Del Rey uploaded and then proceeded to remove the official video for "West Coast" yesterday. Eager fans were met with Vevo's strange sorry message when sites tried to share the clip with audiences. "Sorry Charlie," the message read, and the sound of silence filled the proverbial digital air. Why you gotta play us like that, Lana? Huh?
The wait for whatever moody visual Del Rey conjured out of the future past is over. The hazy, black-and-white video for "West Coast" is really here. It's dark, it's brooding, and there's enough melancholy to give "Summertime Sadness" a run for its moody money. The three elements of a perfect Del Rey video are present: cigarettes, a tragic Hollywood starlet character, and Bradley Soileau, the tattooed love interest. There's a flame element toward the end that probably has some nihilistic meaning, but most of us are still trying to decipher what actually happened in Tropico to bother.